Bubba Wallace fell short of winning the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday afternoon as he finished fourth. But whenhe spoke to reporters after the race, Wallace was happy with the finish because the final caution helped him get in the top five.
“We were behind as soon as we came out of the pits,” Wallace said. The balance wasn’t there, so I was just hanging on for 100-plus laps, and luckily a caution fell. We were able to net a couple [of] spots.”
Wallace went on to praise his 23XI Racing team for their work on Sunday. “I thought everybody executed really well today,” he said. “…We just got behind on that [pit stop]. I’m sure it’s a tenth of air pressure. That’s small of adjusting can take you out. We’ll figure it out, but I appreciate everyone’s effort. From Monday to Sunday, it’s 1000 percent effort, and I’m appreciating that for sure.”
Wallace finished in second place in Stage 1 and Stage 2. He began the race in second, losing pole to Kyle Larson. On Saturday, Wallace joked about Larson beating him for the top spot.
“Of all people, it’d be Larson by a thousandth,” Wallace said. “They’re good, he’s one of the best. Proud of our team though, so that’s good.”
Bubba Wallace continues his strong driving in 2024
Wallace is having a solid 2024 Cup Series season, recording three top-five finishes in eight reaces. The 4th place finish in Martsinville is his best this year, and it’s the third time he has finished in the top 10 at Martinsville in the last four races.
Before the season, Wallace talked about getting on the same level as Denny Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner who is also a co-owner of 23XI Racing.
“He’s really good at keeping the lead. I need to be better at keeping the lead with him,” he said, per Motorsport. “But we both make the right decisions to get up to the front, and when we’re there, we work together really well. It’s a product of Denny having a lot of laps. If you had your top three restrictor plate racers, I’d go with Denny, [Ryan] Blaney, Joey [Logano]. I’d put myself top ten. I just need to finish these things and finish more towards the front.
“Yeah, it’s been fun to build a resume, have great people behind me at 23XI, building great race cars. You have to have that. You have to have the natural instinct to make the right decisions, but also the equipment and people to back you up.”
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